Just crossed over from Dong Ha to Savannaket, thought id have a go at doing it independently. Heres how it went.
Had organised my visa before hand, got it done while I was in Hoi An for 35 US for a 2 month single entry visa. (NI-B3) Was sent to Danang.
From Hue I caught the train to Dong Ha, hard seat for 16,000 Dong, including a tasteless lunch. Took about 1 and 1/2 hours. Once there I noticed that Vans wait at the station to take locals directly to Lao Bao. Personally I wanted to do a DMZ tour on a moto so went through the DMZ cafe, was good.
The next morning 6am I went to the bus station at 6am and got into a van, got the price to 30,000 Dong, locals seem to pay around 20,000 Dong. The van did the usual trowl around town for passengers, there was quite a few vans doing the same thing. Took 2 hrs inc the trolling. Got dropped a couple of kms from the border at what I think was the bus station. Had someone tell me the border is closed, sit down and change money but ignored them. Caught a moto for 5000 Dong to the Vietnamese checkpoint.
Stamped out of Vietnam, no English, just a sign and a crush of people, did the usual and shoved my passport at someone, all the Vietnamese where putting 20,000 Dong in there passport and as I was not getting anywhere I did the same, they gave it back in the end. Got stamped and walked through the checkpoint and into no mans land to the Lao checkpoint, declined changing money from the usual lot and found the window for stamping into Laos, had to fill out a entry card then was stamped in, only for 1 month though, but no worries as I'm only here for 20 days or so.
Caught a moto for 20 baht to bus park which is walkable. Bus to Savan had no one in it so took a Songthew (Truck with bench seats) to Sepon instead, cost 12,000 kip (10,000 kip is $1 US) and took about 1 1/2 hrs to get to Sepon. Had lunch there and waited for a songthew that was headed towards Savan. Didn't wait to long and was on a faster truck this time. Took about 3 1/2 hours to get to Savan.
I wouldn't call it painless, but it was ok, no scams and minimal hassle, main problem was the trucks (Songthew) are too slow which seems a waste on such a good road. (highway 9). Left Dong Ha at 6 am and arrived in Savan at 3:30 pm. Watched alot of air con buses overtake me when I was in the trucks, even tried to flag a couple down when I was waiting in Sepon with no luck.
Lao end seemed nice and honest but you have to watch the Vietnamese end and know your prices.
Thought about going to check out the HCM trail on the way but had already seen it on my DMZ tour.
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